The 19th Annual Feb 14th 2010 Womens Memorial March

In January 1991 a woman was murdered on Powell Street in Vancouver. This was the catalyst that moved women into creating an annual Memorial March on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and caring for all women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Coast Salish Territories.

Nineteen years later, the March continues to honour the lives of missing and murdered women. Over 3000 women are known to have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since the 1970s. Last year, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued this statement: “Hundreds of cases involving aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in the past two decades have neither been fully investigated nor attracted priority attention.”

This year the Memorial March is scheduled to take place in Vancouver, B.C. during the 2010 Winter Olympics. This is an important annual event which shows that those missing and murdered women are not forgotten

In a show of shameful intimidation tactics, The City of Vancouver and the Olympic Committee insisted that the march be postponed, or cancelled altogether, as it was deemed unsavory during the "Olympics Festivities."

The women of the Memorial March stood their ground in solidarity. They remained true to themselves and to those remembered. The March is taking place as planned!

It will be made more sacred by the stance the women have taken. Attending the March either in Vancouver, or in Victoria would be a heartfelt gesture towards to courage of the organizers and helpers. Please give all these women the gift of your respect, encouragement and support.